jeu de paume
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.41 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A precursor of lawn tennis, originally played by hitting the ball with the palm of the hand instead of with a racquet.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Although court tennis was at first played by hand (jeu de paume), the form of the game and the shape of the court were developed during the 12th and 13th centuries to a point differing little from the modern game."
- "Clerici reports on two types of jeu de paume that were associated with the Church during the Middle Ages."
- "At Amboise on the eve of Palm Sunday, 1498, while on his way to watch the jeu de paume being played in the castle ditch, he struck his head on a low lintel."
- "Hardy's games were cricket, about which he was passionate, and real tennis (a.k.a. court tennis or jeu de paume), a more difficult, more intellectually challenging game than ordinary tennis."
- "For centuries le jeu de paume (known as “real tennis” in Britain), a precursor to our modern-day tennis, was the exclusive cultural and social property of France's nobility."
- "Tuileries, on the Rue de Rivoli side, was once used for jeu de paume (or “palm game,” a forerunner of tennis)."
Etymology
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Sports.